They Would See Us as Bacteria

May 7, 2014

The Morning Heresy is your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.

Terrible news: Raid Badawi, the persecuted Saudi dissident, facing a horrific penalty for "insulting Islam" and perhaps even death for apostasy, has had his sentence made even harsher: 10 years in prison (from 7), 1000 lashes (from 600), and a fine equal to about $267,000 US. We'll have more on this soon. CFI and allies held a protest outside the Saudi embassy for him this past Saturday, in concert with other protests around the world.

CFI is urging lawmakers in Ohio to nix a resolution that would endorse the work of religion and ideology-driven "Crisis Pregnancy Centers":

[C]ertainly you can see that the Ohio state government should not endorse or financially support CPCs, which mislead the public, spread dangerous anti-scientific views, and advance sectarian religious beliefs.

The U.S. government's major report on climate change comes down, and it's a doozie. The upshot: Global warming is screwing things up right now in literally every part of the country. And in every article about it, the word "dire" comes up over and over again.

We're seeing more reactions to, and fallout from, the abysmal Supreme Court decision clearing the way for sectarian prayer at public meetings. CNN.com and the Christian Post picked up on our own response.

A Roanoke county supervisor is taking the Court's ruling and running with it, looking to enact a policy of excluding non-Christian prayers. Because, you know, Satanists!

Let’s say the atheists are successful in removing creator out of that sentence ["endowed by our creator"], alright? Who do we put in there? I mean, look, the Germans tried it with Hitler. It didn’t work out very well with them. Look at what happened in Italy [with Mussolini].

I can't think of anything wrong about that sentence. Pardon me now while I repeatedly jab a fork into my eye socket.

The Vatican tells a UN panel that over the past decade, they have fired 848 priests and disciplined 2,572 more sexual abuse. They then proceed to heartily pat themselves on the back for being so great.

This is kind of odd: A Texas landowner has a Ten Commandments sign on her private property, but must pay a fine to the DOT because it violates the "highway beautification transportation code." I mean, it certainly violates my beautification code, but still.

Just because you see Jesus in your toast (I see Steve Jobs, for the record), it doesn't mean you're nuts. What you believe about it after you see it, well...

Quote of the Day

The Onion's person-on-the-street knows what's up when it comes to the Supreme Court prayer ruling:

I’m sure beginning public meetings with a reminder that all who do not accept the blood of Christ are consigned to eternal damnation will not have a chilling effect on anyone who doesn’t share those beliefs.

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Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is.

#1 Susan Gerbic (Guest) on Wednesday May 07, 2014 at 7:19pm

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Paul Fidalgo has been communications director of the Center for Inquiry since 2012. He holds a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University, and has worked previously for FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy and the Secular Coalition for America. Paul is also an actor and musician whose work includes five years performing with the American Shakespeare Center. He lives in Maine with his wife and kids. His blog at the Patheos network is iMortal, and he tweets at @paulfidalgo.